Personal wear absorbent article with tab

Abstract

An absorbent article includes a liquid permeable bodyside liner for facing the wearer, an outer cover for facing away from the wearer, and an absorbent body disposed between the liner and the outer cover. A primary fastening system is provided for securing the article in a wear configuration having a waist opening and a pair of leg openings spaced from the waist opening. A secondary fastening system comprises a pair of tabs having a fastener region selectively attachable to the article and an attachment region defining a portion of the primary fastening system.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An absorbent article for personal wear about a wearer's waist, the article comprising:
 a central absorbent assembly comprising a liquid permeable inner layer for facing the wearer, an outer layer for facing away from the wearer, an absorbent body disposed therebetween, a front waist region, a back waist region and a crotch region extending longitudinally between and interconnecting the front and back waist regions; 
 a pair of transversely spaced panels extending transversely outward from the back waist region of the central absorbent assembly, the panels being attachable to the front waist region of the central absorbent assembly to define a wear configuration of the absorbent article having a waist opening and a pair of leg openings spaced from the waist opening; and 
 a pair of tabs, each tab having an attachment region attached to one of the panels and a tab region extending transversely outward from the attachment region, each of the panels being attached to the front waist region of the central absorbent assembly in the wear configuration of the absorbent article by direct engagement of fastener components mounted on the front waist region of the central absorbent assembly with the attachment region of the tabs, the tab region of each of the tabs being directly attached to the front waist region of the central absorbent assembly in the wear configuration of the absorbent article by fastener components mounted on the respective tab, the attachment region and the tab fastener components being oriented on a common surface of a respective tab of the pair of tabs. 
 
     
     
       2. The absorbent article set forth in  claim 1  wherein each of the panels has a first stiffness and at least a portion of the tab region of the respective tab has a second stiffness greater than the first stiffness. 
     
     
       3. The absorbent article set forth in  claim 1  wherein the fastener components mounted on the front waist region of the absorbent article are hook fastening components. 
     
     
       4. The absorbent article set forth in  claim 3  wherein the front waist region of the absorbent article further comprises loop fastener components disposed transversely inward of the hook fastening components for receiving the fastener components mounted on the tabs in the wear configuration of the absorbent article. 
     
     
       5. The absorbent article set forth in  claim 1  wherein the front waist region of the absorbent article further comprises a pair of transversely spaced front side panels. 
     
     
       6. The absorbent article set forth in  claim 5  wherein each of the front side panels are integrally formed with at least one of the inner layer and the outer layer. 
     
     
       7. The absorbent article set forth in  claim 5  wherein each of the panels extending transversely outward from the back waist region to define a respective back side panel, the back side panels being attached to the front side panels to define the wear configuration of the absorbent article. 
     
     
       8. The absorbent article set forth in  claim 1  wherein the article is selected from the group consisting of a diaper, a training pant, and an incontinence article. 
     
     
       9. An absorbent article for personal wear about a wearer's waist, the article comprising:
 a liquid permeable bodyside liner for facing the wearer; 
 an outer cover for facing away from the wearer; 
 an absorbent body disposed between the liner and the outer cover; 
 a front waist region, a back waist region and a crotch region extending longitudinally between and interconnecting the front and back waist regions; 
 a first fastening system for releasably attaching the back waist region directly to the front waist region, the first fastening system comprising a pair of spaced-apart hook fastening components mounted on the front waist region and a pair of loop fastening components mounted on the back waist region for selectively receiving the hook fastening components; and 
 a second fastening system comprising a pair of tabs with each of the tabs being attached to a respective side of the back waist region of the article to define an attachment region of each of the tabs, each tab having a hook fastener spaced transversely outward from the respective attachment region, each of the hook fasteners being releasably attachable to loop fasteners disposed on the front waist region to thereby releasably attach the back waist region to the front waist region, each of the attachment regions defining a portion of the first fastening system, the attachment region and the hook fastener being oriented on a common surface of a respective tab of the pair of tabs; 
 the hook fasteners of the tabs being located closer to a longitudinal centerline of the article than the hook fastening components mounted on the front waist region when the back waist region is attached to the front waist region by both the first and second fastening systems. 
 
     
     
       10. The absorbent article set forth in  claim 9  wherein the hook fastening components and the loop fasteners mounted on the front waist region are mounted on the outer cover. 
     
     
       11. The absorbent article set forth in  claim 9  wherein the hook fastening components mounted on the front waist region are mounted to the loop fasteners mounted on the front waist region. 
     
     
       12. The absorbent article set forth in  claim 9  further comprising a pair of transversely spaced panels, the panels defining the loop fastening components mounted on the back waist region. 
     
     
       13. The absorbent article set forth in  claim 9  wherein each of the tabs further comprises a grip region being generally non-attachable to the article for use in gripping the tab. 
     
     
       14. The absorbent article set forth in  claim 9  wherein the article is selected from the group consisting of a diaper, a training pant, and an incontinence article. 
     
     
       15. An absorbent article for personal wear about a wearer's waist, the article comprising:
 a liquid permeable bodyside liner for facing the wearer; 
 an outer cover for facing away from the wearer; 
 an absorbent body disposed between the liner and the outer cover; 
 a primary fastening system for securing the article in a wear configuration having a waist opening and a pair of leg openings spaced from the waist opening, the primary fastening system comprising a hook material permanently attached to a front waist region of the article and a loop material permanently attached to a back waist region of the article; and 
 a secondary fastening system comprising a pair of tabs having a fastener region selectively attachable to the article and an attachment region defining a portion of the primary fastening system, the fastener region and the attachment region being oriented on a common surface of a respective tab of the pair of tabs. 
 
     
     
       16. The absorbent article set forth in  claim 15  wherein each of the tabs is attached to the outer cover in the attachment region. 
     
     
       17. The absorbent article set forth in  claim 15  further comprising a pair of transversely spaced panels extending transversely outward from a back waist region, each of the tabs being attached to respective ones of the panels in the attachment region. 
     
     
       18. The absorbent article set forth in  claim 15  wherein the fastener region of each of the tabs comprises a base substrate and a fastening component attached to the base substrate. 
     
     
       19. The absorbent article set forth in  claim 18  wherein the fastening component comprises a hook fastener. 
     
     
       20. An absorbent article for personal wear about a wearer's waist, the article comprising:
 a liquid permeable bodyside liner for facing the wearer; 
 an outer cover for facing away from the wearer; 
 an absorbent body disposed between the liner and the outer cover; 
 a pair of transversely spaced panels extending transversely outward from a back waist region of the article; 
 a primary fastening system for securing the article in a wear configuration having a waist opening and a pair of leg openings spaced from the waist opening; and 
 a secondary fastening system comprising a pair of tabs having a fastener region selectively attachable to the article and an attachment region defining a portion of the primary fastening system, the fastener region and the attachment region being oriented on a common surface of a respective tab of the pair of tabs, each of the tabs being attached to respective ones of the panels in the attachment region. 
 
     
     
       21. The absorbent article set forth in  claim 20  wherein the primary fastening system comprises a hook material permanently attached to a front waist region of the article and a loop material permanently attached to the back waist region of the article.